


Murder By Numbers

by plinys



Category: Numbers (Anthropomorphic)
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-16 10:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13052475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plinys/pseuds/plinys
Summary: There was always a reason, When the others just couldn't cut it that they called for him, for Number One.





	Murder By Numbers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ariesspicy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariesspicy/gifts).



There was a reason they had called him in. 

There was always a reason, When the others just couldn't cut it that they called for him,  for Number One. 

He had had the night off, staying home with his family, but when the phone rang there hadn’t been any hesitation. He had a job to do, and in this city, a city that never seemed to sleep, it was an important just. The Number One most important job. 

“It’s never good news,” he muttered under his breath, flipping up the collar of his jacket to protect against the rain, as he stepped out of his car. A beat up thing that had seen its best days in Ninety-Five.

He opens his umbrella to keep the water up off of him. 

It wasn't much protection. Not with this downpour, flooding the city and washing away all hints of the crime that had been committed on this dreadful night. The water that would wash away the trash that filled the streets was the same water that would wash away their bloodied crime scene before too long. They were on a race against time at this point, where the numbers didn’t quite add up, and before long there wouldn’t be any figures left for them to sort through.

“When did the report come in?”

“About an hour or so ago,” his Number Two replied, the bright orange of her reflective jacket making her stand out among the officers. “I would've called you in sooner but I thought-”

“You always think,” he cuts her off. That was the way with her, always thinking that she could do just as good as he could, but there was a reason he was Number One and she was Number Two. A Number Two was good enough, but they were no Number One. 

This city needed detectives that remembered that.

He waves her off for a moment, crouching down next to the body and pulling up the tarp that had been used to give a sense of privacy to the corpse.

It's a mess, torn up and bloodied so, a pool of blood growing around the corpse, raw red flesh exposed to the night air. Thought it's not an unfamiliar figure, and Number One lets out a curse as he makes out the shape beneath all the blood.

So this was an inside job then.

One of their own number. 

“Tell me you've called the forensic team, at least,” he asks turning away from the body and back to Number Two. 

A sharp nod greats him. 

“I called the team on Thirty-Third they should be here any minute now.”

As if her words were a beacon, not Two seconds later, a siren splits the night air and when he looks up the forensic van is pulling into the scene of the crime. 

He stops one of them as he steps away from the body, speaking low enough for only them to hear, “Tell me everything you find out, and only me.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Satisfied with the answer he lets them get to the crime scene and goes back to where his Number Two is, asking, “Who called it in?”

This time there is a grimace on her face.

“She's really shaken, started crying whenever the other agents got near her, just a little thing.”

“How little?”

“A Six.”

He grimaces.

That complicated things. He had never been good with children, he was the Number One detective not the Number One child minder, and yet - there was a job to do and he had to do it.

“Where is she?”

“With the EMTs,” Number Two says.

This time it’s his turn to nod.

“You stay here with the Thirty-Threes, call me if you find anything, I had a witness to speak to.”

With that, and one last back glance at the scene of the crime, he moves away following the blinking lights until he reaches the ambulance.

There he can see the EMTs fussing over a young girl with her short hair in Two messy braids and a shock blanket draped over her shoulders.

Christ, it really was a child.

He needs a smoke after this, a long one, to rid the sight of the tear tracks on her cheeks from his memory. He's got a little Four at home, can picture it all too clearly being his little girl.

“Sorry to bother you, sweetheart,” he says in the same voice he uses with his Four, ignoring the glares of the EMTs, they may not like how he did his job but at least nobody could say that he was ineffective. “Just wanted to ask you a few questions.”

The little one stares at him with wide eyes. Afraid, she's afraid of all of them. Suddenly having Seven people around her seems too much, and he makes a gesture to dismiss the gathered EMTs. They don't like it, but one of the perks of being Number One was that their opinions really didn't matter. 

Once they're gone he smiles at the girl in a manner that he’s told usually comes off as reassuring. 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he asks, “I’m not going to hurt you, I just need to know what you saw.” 

She doesn’t say anything, just stares at him with those same too wide eyes. 

“My team said that you were the first one here, that you might have seen what happened and I know it's a lot to ask about but-”

The girl gives a hiccup noise, not quite a sob, but she says something mumbled into the shock blanket wrapped around her body. Too low for him to hear, but it’s something. It’s what they might need to make sense of this whole mess.

He crouches down closer to this girl this time, close enough that he’ll be able to hear whatever it is that she mumbles and he slowly asks, “Could you tell me that again?”

He hears it then, the soft whisper from her lips, a clue maybe, or a confession, or no -

A question, “Why is Six afraid of Seven?”

He can only ask, “Why?”

Her voice trembles, softly there, almost covered by the wind, but he hears her clear enough, hears her say, “Because Seven, Eight, Nine.” 

  
  
  



End file.
